Practice Practical for BIO 160 Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology

At the end of the semester, students in BIO160 take a cumulative lab practical.  A practical exam is set up in stations, the students physically move from station to station and has a “set up” from a lab.  There are 2-3 questions for each station; the exam is timed.  The first semester giving the practical, the scores were very low.  In an attempt to improve the scores, I gave the students a review and the grades improved slightly.  This has been the routine for a few semesters.  At the end Fall16, I tried a practice practical.  After an informal survey, I found only 2-3 had experience taking a practical exam.  I developed the practice practical from the review, so this gave them an opportunity to review AND practice questions.  After giving a practice practical, I saw dramatic improvements in the practical exam grades.  Not only did I see improvement in the grades on the exam, proctoring the exam was less stressful for my students and me.  The practice practical gave them an opportunity to see what it is like to be timed at each station, how and where to move, and what to expect on the exam.